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Butterflies and moths are in the order Lepidoptera. They can be readily identified from other insects by
the scales on their wings. Lepidoptera, being derived from Greek, means "wings of scale."
Their life cycle has four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis) and adult.
Most butterflies fly during the day; most moths
fly at night. In terms of species numbers, Lepidoptera is among the four largest insect orders,
the others being the Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies) and Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps & sawflies).
Worldwide there are probably about 300,000 species of Lepidoptera, of which only an estimated 14,500 or about 5%
are butterflies. With an estimated 6,000 species, the New World is rich in butterflies. In North America, there
are over 11,000 described Lepidoptera species, including 679 butterflies.

Description
Most adult butterflies and moths are easily recognized by their scaled wings, but this diverse order includes some very small forms that might be difficult for an inexperienced person to recognize. Several different kinds of moths have wingless adult females, and these too might present some identification problems.